Citron is a new gallery/studio recently opened in downtown Asheville that features contemporary art from local, national, and international artists, with a current focus on inventive abstracts. This start-up space, a collaboration between painters Rand and Melinda Kramer and Frances Domingues, hopes to attract top talent and offer specialized services to collectors and art lovers visiting or living in the Asheville area. Their goal is to create and display eclectic work from a variety of professionals, eventually covering all mediums: painting, printmaking, sculpture, metalwork, mixed media, photography, and textiles.
Citron is located in the lower level of 60 Biltmore Avenue. Rand Kramer notes that “as a small gallery, we want to surprise our guests with a uniquely high level of curation and a warm and inviting atmosphere.” The partners also state that they’re committed to evolving: “Our vision is to continue as a fluid, ever-growing contemporary gallery and combination studio space for working artists.”
Partner owner Domingues is exhibiting in the venue’s inaugural exhibition, Beginnings. The artist majored in psychology and eventually created Found Design, making furnishings and interior-design objects from found materials. Many of her works focus on the natural properties of these materials, using decay as a kind of inspiration. “It’s undeniable that metal wants to rust; I started using rust as a medium … it’s like co-creating with the universe,” says Domingues.
Rand Kramer makes nature-inspired abstracts, building up many layers of paint and then scraping and chipping away at the surface to give his work depth. He says his goal is to “create a visual story that contains subtle details, rich texture, and soft imagery.”
New Orleans native Betty Clark moved to Black Mountain in 1983 and then to Asheville. Her abstract paintings have been lauded worldwide, including at a solo exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden. “Today,” she says, “joining the Citron Gallery is truly a dream come true.”
Abstractionist Anna Carll lives in Chattanooga. “I embrace and process the nuances of this work and use the outcome as a vehicle to communicate a narrative about the natural world around me — [a world] that exists outside of language.”
— Jolene Mechanic
The show runs through Jan. 29, 2022.Citron Gallery, 60 Biltmore Ave. #002, Asheville. www.citrongallery.com. 828-785-4131.